In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accord with the riches of His grace that he showered on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:7-8
In The Christian Reader, a woman wrote about her brother and his bride on their honeymoon. Late at night they finally got to their fancy hotel’s bridal suite. The room had only a sofa, a table, and chairs.
Then, discovering the sofa pulled out into a bed, they spent an uncomfortable night on a lumpy mattress with saggy springs. In the morning, they gave the hotel clerk at the front desk an earful.
The clerk asked, “Did you open the door in your room?”
The door?
He thought it was a closet. He went back to his room, opened the door, and found a gorgeous bedroom, complete with fruit baskets and chocolates.
He had spent the night with his bride in the entryway!
I really want to laugh at him for being so silly. Unfortunately, I can’t, because I do the same thing.
The apostle Paul describes the riches of grace that God showers down on us. It is as if God has filled the bridal suite with the wealth of the world. . . and, sometimes, where am I? Making the best of it in the entryway.
God’s love for us is not a limited commodity that he, reluctantly, parcels out in meager doses. Grace is an unending waterfall. The question is whether we will stand under it or not.
The problem for many of us is that we are half right. As we honestly take stock of our lives we know that we are guilty of living contrary to the way God wants us to. And, because we are guilty, we realize we are unworthy of receiving any good gift from the Lord.
So far so good.
But here is where we tend to wander off track: if we are unworthy, then it would seem that God should give us just enough to get by. Why would God heap truckloads of blessing on people who have been so unfaithful to Him?
But that is exactly what He does!
God is reckless in lavishing his love on undeserving people. You will have learned the wildness of his love when you let him rain it down on you.
(copyright 2012 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)